Desk Updates

Over at the Politics Desk, we've been thinking about our so-called "President" wandering the White House alone this weekend, playing golf by himself, eating a reheated Lean Cuisine for his Sunday night dinner (okay, that last one's obviously not true - everyone knows he only eats red meat and cholesterol).  Still smarting from being banned from the royal wedding and Barbara Bush's funeral, he was not invited to the weekend's ceremonies for the late John McCain and Aretha Franklin either.

Basically, he's sitting at home while the nation mourns John McCain, more of a man than he'll ever be, and Aretha Franklin, more of a woman than he'll ever have. 

Meanwhile, the Sports Desk, after much consideration, has come up with a term for the three-hour radius around Atlanta that includes championship-caliber teams such as Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, and Auburn.  Geographic terms like "Georgibama" would leave out Clemson, and "Georilina" would leave out Alabama, and "Geoalalina" is just too convoluted to say with a straight face (and leaves out Tennessee).  We could call it "SEC Central" for the Conference, but that would be an insult to the ACC's Clemson and just confuse people, because the SEC is already divided into an SEC East and an SEC West. So after said consideration and since all the teams are within a circle defined by a three-hour drive from Atlanta, we're calling the area the "3-Hour Atlanta Circle of Excellence," or "3H ACE" for short, as well as a whole lot less redneck sounding than "The Deep South," "Dixieland," or anything with the term "Confederacy."

Anyway, the Sports Desk is pretty satisfied with yesterday's college football games.  The teams within the 3H ACE all won their games (see how easily that rolls off the tongue?) - No. 1 Alabama over unranked Louisville, 51-14, No. 2 Clemson over unranked Furman, 48-7, and most importantly No. 3 Georgia over unranked Austin Peay, 45-0. One touching moment yesterday occurred at halftime of the Georgia game when Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart presented a $5,000 check to an Austin Peay assistant coach to help cover crushing medical expenses the coach had incurred for his five-year-old daughter, who suffers from an extremely rare genetic disorder.  Class move there, Coach Smart.  You're a good man and welcome to our funeral anytime.

No. 9 Auburn, who's also within the 3H ACE, beat No. 6 Washington yesterday, 21-16.  To put it another way, the highest-ranked team west of the Mississippi couldn't even beat Auburn, who's only the fourth-best team within three hours of here.

Also, we keep forgetting about unranked Georgia Tech.  Not only is Tech within the 3H ACE, they're smack dab in the middle.  We could easily walk to Tech in less than 30 minutes.  Anyway, even they won their game yesterday, 41-0, over Alcorn State.  As did downtown's Georgia State, who've taken over Turner Field, the Atlanta Brave's former stadium, beating Kennesaw State 24-20.

However, unranked Tennessee, located on the northern edge of the 3H ACE, lost to No. 17 West Virginia, 40-14, the only blemish on the 3H ACE's otherwise perfect performance.  Better luck next week, Vols.

Speaking of next weekend, Georgia will play South Carolina, which has always been a tough game for the Bulldogs.  They've only scored over 40 points once in Columbia (three hours and nine minutes from Atlanta, so technically outside of the 3H ACE), and wound up losing even that game.  It should be the first real test for the Dogs, as well as a chance to show the pollsters what we're capable of.   

No, it doesn't suck to be a college football fan in the 3H ACE right now, just like it doesn't suck to be a Boston pro sports fan right now either, considering the potential for this year's Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics teams.  

Meanwhile. the Fantasy Desk is still playing Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and wondering why it's not at DragonCon this weekend, the Zen Desk and the Stoic Desk are both sitting side-by-side staring at a wall (although each for different reasons, which to the Zen Desk is no reason at all), and the Music Desk wants you to know that it still thinks Anna von Hausswolff's Dead Magic and Parquet Courts' Wide Awake are the two best albums of 2018 so far, and we think you can probably guess what the Infinite Jest Desk has been up to lately.